THT Daily: KC takes Missouri crown
by Matthew CarruthJune 15, 2007
Major League News for June 15
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
THT Links
Windy Ballparks - How does the wind affect park effects? Chris Constancio has a look at a few parks to find out.A BABIP Summary - Sticking with self-promotion, David Gassko posted a fairly succinct summary about what we know in regards to BABIP on the SoSH message board.
Batted Ball Types - Dan Fox has a breakdown on the various batted ball types over the past 4 seasons. Meanwhile Tom Tango takes that information and throws it into the linear weights formulas to come up with some interesting relationships.
Overrated - Remember a few weeks back when Jayson Stark claimed that Andruw Jones was the most overrated player in the game because he was living off his defensive reputation that was no longer warranted? Well, first, Scott Boras, Andruw's agent, shot back. Then came a response from Jayson Stark (quoted in main link) and here is also JC Bradbury's response to Stark's response. We have also just seen, thanks to David Gassko, that Andruw's Zone Rating courtesy of BIS is fabulous this year. To sum it all up, Andruw's defense slipped a bit in the previous three seasons. It was not much but it was significant. In 2007, it is back to his old numbers.
Patience - McCovey Chronicles preaches patience when it comes to the rough patches in Tim Lincecum's recent starts. True that. All young pitchers go through an adjustment period, especially young pitchers with poor control.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldThe Dodgers have fired hitting coach Eddie Murray and named Bill Mueller as his interim replacement. Despite their lack of power, the Dodgers are actually tied for seventh in the NL in runs scored, and we're not sure how it's Murray's fault that James Loney and Matt Kemp weren't up earlier. If the Dodgers simply played their best players and stopped batting Juan Pierre at the top of the order, they might be ranked third or fourth.
Adam Everett suffered a fractured right leg in Thursday's game and will miss 4-8 weeks. Everett was hurt in an outfield collision with Carlos Lee. It looks like the game's best defensive player will go another year without a Gold Glove. Mark Loretta will likely take over as the Astros' starting shortstop. It's a nice offensive upgrade, but the defensive downgrade will clearly outweigh that, as Loretta has little range left these days. Eric Bruntlett might actually be the better option as a regular. He'll likely be called up to serve as a utilityman.
Freddy Garcia won't have surgery on his shoulder after meeting with Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday. Instead, he plans to rest for several weeks. "Both doctors agree that there is some damage to the shoulder," said assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr, "but it's more a product of being a starting pitcher who has logged as many innings as Freddy has over the last several seasons." Well, of course it is. That doesn't mean he's not going to surgery. Garcia apparently will try to return for the final two months. Even if it works out as hoped, he'd be a terrible risk as a free agent this winter.
Chris Capuano will go on the disabled list after suffering a strained groin while warming up for Wednesday's start. Top prospect Yovani Gallardo is expected to replace him on the roster and start Monday against the Giants.
Royals placed infielder Mark Grudzielanek on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 13, with a torn meniscus in his left knee. It's the same problem that caused him to undergo surgery in March. He's scheduled for another procedure Friday that will sideline him through the All-Star break. The Royals will turn to Esteban German at second base, a switch that should help the lineup while hurting the defense.
RotoWorld.com has learned that Chase Headley is being called up for Friday's game and will be in the lineup against the Cubs. As if it wasn't already obvious, Padres manager Bud Black just isn't a fan of Russell Branyan. If Kevin Kouzmanoff goes on the DL, Headley will likely get a chance to play fairly regularly for a couple of weeks, making him a decent option in NL-only leagues. Headley has hit .357/.433/.648 in 227 at-bats for Double-A San Antonio.
Yesterday’s Results
Inter-League WAS 3 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Simontacchi, Guthrie: 7 IP, 1 R COL 7 BOS 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Atkins: 2B, HR, 4 RBI; Francis: 5 IP, 0 R NYA 7 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) A-Rod, Matsui: 3-4, 2B; Pettitte: 8 IP, 1 R SD 7 TB 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Gonzalez, Bowen: 2 2B; Germano: 6 IP, 0 R MIL 6 DET 5 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 17 STL 8 (Recap and Boxscore) See below MIN 3 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN: 3 R in bottom of 9th to win CLE 3 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Martinez: 2B, HR; Stanford: 6 IP, 1 R CHN 5 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA: 4 R on 3 H LAA 9 CIN 7 (Recap and Boxscore) Kotchman: 3-5; Hatteberg: 4-5 OAK 6 HOU 5 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings TEX 6 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Loe: 8 IP, 0 R
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (L) David Wells (3-3) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (4-4) Inter-League ------------ Atlanta Braves at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Buddy Carlyle (1-1) vs. (L) CC Sabathia (9-1) Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Jon Garland (4-3) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (2-9) Arizona Diamondbacks at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Micah Owings (4-1) vs. (L) Erik Bedard (4-4) New York Mets at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Oliver Perez (6-5) vs. (R) Roger Clemens (1-0) Detroit Tigers at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Jeremy Bonderman (6-0) vs. (R) Jon Lieber (3-4) San Francisco Giants at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Barry Zito (6-6) vs. (R) Julian Tavarez (3-4) Washington Nationals at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Mike Bacsik (1-3) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (6-2) Texas Rangers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (2-8) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (5-4) Seattle Mariners at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Felix Hernandez (3-3) vs. (L) Wandy Rodriguez (3-6) Florida Marlins at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Sergio Mitre (2-2) vs. (R) Gil Meche (3-6) Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Dave Bush (3-6) vs. (R) Scott Baker (1-1) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) James Shields (6-0) vs. (R) Rodrigo Lopez (2-0) St. Louis Cardinals at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Braden Looper (6-5) vs. (R) Danny Haren (7-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM (R) Ervin Santana (5-6) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (6-6)
Standings
The graphics next to each team are called "sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each "up" bar is a victory and a "down" bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. "PWins" is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.American League East Pwins Diff BOS 41 24 .631 0.0 39 2NYA 33 31 .516 7.5 38 -5
TOR 31 34 .477 10.0 32 -1
TB 29 35 .453 11.5 25 4
BAL 29 37 .439 12.5 33 -4
American League Central CLE 39 26 .600 0.0 37 2
DET 37 28 .569 2.0 39 -2
MIN 33 31 .516 5.5 33 0
CHA 27 35 .435 10.5 24 3
KC 26 41 .388 14.0 28 -2
American League West LAA 42 25 .627 0.0 39 3
SEA 35 28 .556 5.0 33 2
OAK 36 29 .554 5.0 38 -2
TEX 24 42 .364 17.5 27 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 36 28 .563 0.0 36 0
PHI 35 31 .530 2.0 33 2
ATL 35 32 .522 2.5 33 2
FLA 32 35 .478 5.5 33 -1
WAS 29 37 .439 8.0 27 2
National League Central MIL 36 30 .545 0.0 33 3
CHN 30 35 .462 5.5 35 -5
STL 28 35 .444 6.5 24 4
PIT 28 38 .424 8.0 28 0
HOU 27 39 .409 9.0 29 -2
CIN 26 41 .388 10.5 30 -4
National League West SD 38 27 .585 0.0 41 -3
LAN 38 28 .576 0.5 36 2
ARI 37 30 .552 2.0 33 4
COL 33 33 .500 5.5 31 2
SF 30 35 .462 8.0 34 -4
Game of the Day
Kansas City won this battle for the state of Missouri by blasting the Cardinals, 17-8, in the rubber game of a three-game series. The two teams will meet again early next week.ST LOUIS (8) VS KANSAS CITY (17) - FINAL
ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Kennedy 2b 4 1 1 1 1 0 1 .218
S Taguchi lf 5 1 2 0 0 1 2 .283
A Pujols 1b 5 2 2 1 0 0 2 .304
J Edmonds cf 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 .242
S Rolen 3b 3 1 1 1 0 0 2 .261
J Encarnacion rf 3 1 1 0 1 1 2 .276
C Duncan dh 4 1 2 4 0 0 1 .253
K Stinnett c 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .167
A Miles ss 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 .275
Totals 35 8 11 7 4 3 12
BATTING: 2B - A Miles (7, Z Greinke). HR - C Duncan (11, 2nd inning off S
Elarton 2 on, 0 Out), A Pujols (16, 7th inning off J Gobble 0 on, 0 Out). SF -
S Rolen. RBI - C Duncan 4 (25), S Rolen (25), A Kennedy (12), A Pujols (44).
2-out RBI - C Duncan, A Kennedy. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C
Duncan 1, K Stinnett 2, S Taguchi 1. GIDP - A Pujols, S Rolen. Team LOB - 5.
BASERUNNING: SB - A Kennedy (3, 2nd base off Z Greinke/J LaRue).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (A Pujols-A Miles-A Pujols).
KANSAS CITY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D DeJesus cf 4 3 1 3 1 0 2 .259
E German 2b 3 2 1 2 2 1 2 .265
F Cortez 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M Teahen rf 5 1 3 5 0 0 0 .286
E Brown dh 5 2 3 3 0 1 2 .229
A Gordon 3b 5 1 2 2 0 1 2 .204
R Shealy 1b 4 2 0 1 1 1 1 .214
J LaRue c 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .176
T Pena Jr ss 5 3 4 1 0 0 0 .273
J Gathright lf 2 3 0 0 3 0 2 .292
Totals 38 17 15 17 7 5 12
BATTING: 2B - E Brown (6, R Flores); D DeJesus (15, K Jimenez); T Pena Jr (8, R
Springer). 3B - M Teahen 2 (5, R Springer, T Johnson). HR - A Gordon (5, 4th
inning off K Jimenez 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - E Brown 3 (24), D DeJesus 3 (21), E
German 2 (18), M Teahen 5 (35), R Shealy (17), T Pena Jr (18), A Gordon 2 (16).
2-out RBI - T Pena Jr, D DeJesus 2, M Teahen 4. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - E Brown 2, J Gathright 1. GIDP - A Gordon. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: DP: 2 (E German-R Shealy, T Pena Jr-E German-R Shealy).
----------------------------------------------------
ST LOUIS - 132 001 100 -- 8
KANSAS CITY - 180 602 00x -- 17
----------------------------------------------------
ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era
K Wells (L, 2-11) 1 1/3 3 6 6 4 1 0 6.93
R Flores 2/3 5 3 3 0 0 0 5.01
K Jimenez 1 2/3 4 6 6 2 1 1 9.93
T Johnson 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.24
R Springer 1 2 2 2 1 2 0 3.18
J Isringhausen 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.73
R Franklin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.82
KANSAS CITY ip h r er bb so hr era
S Elarton 2 5 6 6 3 0 1 8.54
Z Greinke (W, 4-4) 4 4 1 1 1 3 0 5.27
J Gobble 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 2.59
J Soria 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.04
N Musser 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.39
S Elarton pitched to 3 batters in the 3rd.
WP - K Wells. HBP - D DeJesus (by K Wells). Pitches-strikes: K Wells 44-22; R
Flores 22-15; K Jimenez 35-20; T Johnson 16-11; R Springer 29-16; J
Isringhausen 14-10; R Franklin 8-3; S Elarton 44-24; Z Greinke 57-36; J Gobble
16-11; J Soria 9-6; N Musser 10-5. Ground balls-fly balls: K Wells 3-0; R
Flores 2-0; K Jimenez 4-0; T Johnson 1-3; R Springer 0-1; J Isringhausen 0-2; R
Franklin 2-1; S Elarton 4-2; Z Greinke 4-5; J Gobble 1-2; J Soria 2-1; N Musser
2-1. Batters faced: K Wells 11; R Flores 7; K Jimenez 11; T Johnson 5; R
Springer 6; J Isringhausen 3; R Franklin 3; S Elarton 13; Z Greinke 16; J
Gobble 5; J Soria 3; N Musser 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Mark Carlson. 1B--Larry Young. 2B--Angel Hernandez. 3B--Ted
Barrett.
T--3:11. Att--28,837.
Weather: 84 degrees, clear. Wind: 10 mph, in from right.The following graph tracks the game's Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs. You can also view live WPA graphs at Fangraphs during any ballgame all season long.
Access THT’s stats here…
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.